The report cites “two people with knowledge of the discussion” for word that talks with EA had progressed far enough to produce a solid numerical figure: $1 billion.

Valve is a private company so it’s worth can only be estimated, but industry analyst Michael Pachter values the Steam developer as $2.5 billion.

It doesn’t sound like founder Gabe Newell is keen on the idea of a buy out anyway, telling the NY Times that the company would “disintegrate” first.

“It’s way more likely we would head in that direction than say, ‘Let’s find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,’” he is quoted as saying.

EA and Valve are on friendly terms; the publisher acted as distributor for the console versions of Portal 2, for example, and EA executive Peter Moore has been known to sing the company’s praises. The two are rivals of a sort through their digital distribution services, Steam and Origin.